Monday, December 26, 2011

On the third anniversary of receiving my pilot's license, I look back at 2011 to see if the goals that I had set at the end of 2010 were met.

In 2011

I logged time in 2 different aircraft; Tecnam Sierra and of course the SportCruiser

I logged

15 flights (7 less than 2010)

21.4 PIC hours (3.6 less than 2010) and all LSA PIC hours

9.1 XC hours (5.6 more than 2010)

Landed at 6 different airports

I went over 100 PIC hours

Had my first BFR

So how did I do? Did I meet the goals I set out at the end of 2010 for 2011?

Looking back, 2011 was a mixed year for me. I did get more XC hours but they were mostly from 2 flights to the UCAP meet up in Nashua NH. One we made and the other was aborted due to weather. That being said, they were the 2 longest flights since my long XC. And both were great learning experiences

In 2011 I joined two volunteer organizations. I always wanted to use my pilot’s license to help others so I joined the Civil Air Patrol and Patient AirLift Services. Patient AirLift Services or PALS (http://www.palservices.org/), is an organization that arranges free air transportation based on need to individuals requiring medical care and for other humanitarian purposes.

Overall, 2011was a good year. I continued to fly and meet new friends through aviation and my podcast. Have a listen to see if I met my goals and what my goals are for 2012.

I would like to wish all of my listeners and your families, Happy Holidays and a safe and joyful New Year.

Monday, November 21, 2011

In this episode, I welcome John Telfeyan to the virtaul hanger for a chat about flying to Oshkosh. John is a VFR pilot and has flown to AirVenture 5 times. A couple by himself. John shares his experiences about flying to the big show, what he learned along the way and his thoughts on how to do it safely and succesffully. John as I said is a VFR pilot with around 500 hours and busts the myth that you need to be a high-time IFR pilot in order to fly to Oshkos. Listening to him talk, you realize that a realtively low-time VFR pilot can do it safely and successfully.

John also talks about his role in building Terafugia's rodable aircraft the Transition.It was an extremely interesting conversation on the safety feature, flight testing the production prototype and the new configuration of the Transition.

This was an enjoyable conversation where I learned a lot about the thought process of flying a cross-country flight. Just so happen the flight was to Oshkosh. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and also learned a little about what it takes to fly to Oshkosh.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

In this episode, I talk with David Torrente about the recent flights we have taken together. All of them were up to Nashua NH to meet the gang at the UCAP meet-up. All three of them were somewhat adventurist and we learned a lot from them. We discuss what happened, our decisions, why we made the decisions and most importantly what we learned from each flight. So if you want to hear what happened along the way to Nashua, please join us in the virtual hangar. I hope you enjoy the discussion and maybe even learn something from it.

As always, I had goals for this flight. One was to go on a cross-country flight. This is the one area where I would like to improve upon. Most of my hours up until this year have been either spent practicing or short sight-seeing trips around LI. I really want to fly more XC flights and get more comfortable landing at unfamiliar airports. As you will hear from this episode, Dave has more experience than me in XC flying and there is no one better to fly them with.

A second goal was to meet the Jack and the gang for brunch at the midfield café. Isn’t that what getting your PPL is all about? Flying to an airport with a good restaurant to hang out with friends.

Not only were these goals met, but as you will hear, we had some practice de-icing a plane and diverting to other airports.

Dave & Jack in conversation.

Kristen and Len from the Stuck Mic AvCast.

Myself, Dave and Jack.

Dave, Rick and Dorrie in front of Rick's 172

The gang chatting after a good meal

Waiting for take-off. (Photo by Jeff Ward)

Rick next to his plane

Shoutouts:

1) David Torrente, an excellent pilot and great flying companion. I look forward to many more XC flights with him. Hopefully not as eventful as our last few.

2) Jack Hodgson for arranging the meetups. They are a lot of fun. A great opportunity to meet up with friends that you only see at aviation events.

3) Dave Pascoe from LiveAtc.net, Rick Felty and Len Costa from the Stuck Mic AvCast (it was also great meeting Rick’s wife Dorrie and Len’s girlfriend Kristen), Jeff Ward from behind the scenes at UCAP, Rick Sheppe and Jim Goldman who were at the meetup.

4) A big shoutout to Bradley approach who helped us find the airport when we needed to land.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Hello everybody. In this episode I have invited special guests to a round table discussion the Civil Air Patrol. I have always been interested in joining and had some questions. So I decided to invite some very special guests, who are all members of the Civil Air Patrol to answer some questions and talk about their experiences in the Civil Air Patrol. I figured if I was interested in joining and had some questions, some of the listeners of this podcast might also have questions and might be interested in hearing about the Civil Air Patrol.

We discuss many different subjects including how to join, the different types of squadrons, the commitment level required, the aircraft, the different jobs, the history and the mission of the Civil Air Patrol. The listener who is a pilot will be interested in hearing about what he or she can do with his or her private pilot's license. For the student pilot or a person interested in becoming a pilot, he or she will interested in the discussion of whether he or she can get their Private Pilot's License through the Civil Air Patrol (hint: the cadet member can the senior cannot, but he or she can get advanced ratings).

I learned a lot about the Civil Air Patrol and am planning to join (I will keep everyone updated). This is a great organization where young people can gain very important skills that will serve them well for the rest of their life and where anyone can do great work and server their community and country.

As a note, everyone who participated in this discussion were speaking as individuals and their comments do not reflect the views of the Civil Air Patrol.

Future Discussion

This is first in a series of discussions I am planning to have on different things that a new pilot, or for that matter any pilot, can do in addition to the $100 hamburger. Hopefully this will get the juices flowing of anyone thinking about getting their PPL or kick-starting a dormant pilot.

If anyone would like to hear about a specific subject, please email me. I will try to set up a discussion about it.

Shoutouts:

I will like to thank my guests for spending 2 hours with me discussing the Civil Air Patrol.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Hello everybody. In this episode I talk about going totally paperless in the cockpit using the iPad. More importantly I talk about my flight with Colleen. If you remember, our last flight was memorable for all the wrong reasons. I made 4 BIG mistakes and Colleen felt a little sick at the end (see Episode #09 - Colleen's 1st Flight in the PiperSport and my 4 Mistakes). When I asked if she would fly with me again, she said she didn't think so. This crushed me. So this flight was very important to me. I wanted to get her back in the air and make sure that she was comfortable and having fun. Otherwise she may never fly in a GA airplane again.

I also discus how I use the iPad. I pay special attention to the workflow and the apps that I use. I wanted to make sure that the flow was natural and that I could find all of the apps and information when needed. This is only a suggestion. You are the PIC and must decide what is appropriate for you.

I hope you enjoy the retelling of my flight.

Shoutouts:

1) Acro Camp 2
The casting call for Acro Camp 2 is now open. You have until June 2411:59 PM US ET to apply. So what are you waiting for? Climb over the airport fence and find out what it is like to fly upside down!

This is the newest member of the aviation podshere. It is hosted by good friends of The New Pilot PodBlog
Len Costa (The PilotReport.com)
Rick Felty
Victoria Neuville

Carl Valeri

Please go to iTunes and subscribe to this excellent podcast. I did.

3) Colleen

A BIG shutout to my daughter Colleen for having the faith in me to take her flying. I really love sharing my passion for flight with my children and was so happy that Colleen came with me. She had a great time and is willing to fly with me again.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Hello Everybody! In this episode I take you along on my first aerobatic ride. On September 5, 2010 I go flying with Mike Bellenir in Mike Mancuso's Extra 300L for some aerobatic flying. We did aileron rolls, loops, hammerheads, Cuban eights, 90 degree hesitation rolls and Immelmans. It was absolutely INCREDIBLE!

I take you into the cockpit with me as Mike takes me through all of the maneuvers. Mike is a great instructor and an accomplished acrobatic pilot and he really made the flight enjoyable.

The day was picture perfect, blue skies, puffy clouds and a nice little crosswind. We flew for about 20 minutes and just about all of that time was filled with aerobatic flight. My favorite maneuver was the hammerhead. You climb straight up vertical until the plane runs out of airspeed and begins to stall, you then kick the rudder and the plane pivots to the side of the rudder used and dives straight down towards the earth. You the pull out from the dive to go to straight and level flight. It was absolutely amazing.

Aerobatic flight is one of the goals that I laid out in episode 1 - Goal Setting. It is part of the New Experience category and I plan to do more this summer. I hope to add spins into the mix.

Have a listen and join me in the cockpit for some aerobatic flight. Don't worry, I didn't hurl!

Shout Outs:

Mike Bellenir for taking me up and getting me hooked on aerobatics. If you are on Long Island and would like to go up for the flight of a lifetime with a great instructor, please stop by Mid Island Air Service at Brookhaven Airport (KHWV) and sign up for a flight.